Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night,Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

PROLOGUE: MOVIE AND SLEEP ISSUES

*****

July16^th, 1993.

It was a lovely summer day and Flora was taking her kids to see a movie at the local movie theater that just opened that day. Yes, all twenty-two kids were only four years old, but Darius was out of town, and she wanted them to have a fun movie experience of some kind.

The movie that she was taking them to was called Hocus Pocus, and while it was more of a Halloween movie, she was certain that it would be spooky fun for the kids.

*****

After getting the tickets and snacks from concessions, Flora and the kids filed into the movie theater, which they had to themselves, and for the next hour and 36 minutes, not counting fifteen minutes of trailers for other movies, they watched the movie…well a handful of the kids actually did watch the movie, the other kids kept goofing off, making a mess, and running around the theater.

Of the kids who did watch the movie despite their rebellious siblings, were Delta, Mystic, Ro, and a few others. And while they wouldn’t be able to recall every detail of the movie…for one of them, a certain character would be inspiration to write a broadway play decades later that would have a witchy theme to it.

*****

Eighteen years ago…

Alice hid in the closet of the laundry room, hoping against hope that Darius wouldn’t find her there. She loved her dad, but she knew what he was wanting her to do, and she didn’t want to do it, not again. And she was terrified of going into that machine again, to be locked inside another dream state for months on end.

Yes, Alice wanted to increase her dream magic, but not at the cost of her sanity, or to lose anymore time then she already lost. The only comfort was that she didn’t miss out on their birthdays, Darius made sure of that.

‘Please don’t find me,’ she thought, huddling behind the rack of cleaning rags. ‘Please, don’t find me. I don’t want to do it anymore. Please.’

Alice heard footsteps echoing through the hallway that connected to the laundry room, and as they got closer, she recognized them as Darius. She willed herself to be invisible and as quiet as possible when she heard him enter the room, and she could hear him walking around, clearly searching for her by checking each of the dryers and washers.

She continued to remain quiet, waiting for him to leave, and eventually he did leave.

Alice quietly stood up and moved toward the door – when it suddenly swung open and she found herself facing Darius. “Dad!” she yelped. “Please-!” She cried when he grabbed her and dragged her out of the closet. “No! Dad, don’t do this! No! No!”

*****

Alice struggled in Darius’ grip as he dragged her down into the basement lab, and she screamed when she saw the machine, which strongly resembled a coffin. “I can't do this anymore…Please…let me stop!”

“You can and you will!”

“My head is throbbing, my eyes are burning, my vision is blurry…I need a break!"

“No breaks, now get in!”

Lennox was there and he assisted Darius in getting poor Alice into the machine, holding her down while Darius started up the machine, and he quickly moved away so that the lid slid into place.

“Dad! Dad! I don’t want to sleep!” Alice screamed from inside the machine, banging on the lid. “Please! Don’t do this to me! Not again! I don’t want to dream like this! I don’t. Please!”

Darius ignored her screams and pleads, activating the program, and waited as Alice’s screams and pleads began to slow until they stopped completely. He went over and peered into the machine by way of a special window, and he saw that she was asleep with a peaceful expression on her face.

‘She’s right,’ he thought while taking out his book and began writing in it. ‘But this is the only way I can prepare you for what’s to come, my dear. I’m sorry, but it is.’ And he continued writing while monitoring the readings.

*****

A full week later, Alice was released from the machine, for Darius needed her to do something else, and she was looking dazed.

He took Alice to a small park, where the people, all adults, were running around like crazy, for he’d injected them all with pure caffeine. “Alice, you need to put these people to sleep before they harm themselves or others. Do it.”

Alice, who was still dazed from her time in the machine, nodded a little, and she began concentrating, her hands glowing blue.

Darius watched her and the people, writing in his book, and after a few minutes, she stopped – and the people were still running around, having not been affected in the slightest by her sleep power. “Alice, I told you to put them to sleep,” he snapped and she cringed. “Do it, Alice. Put them to sleep with your power, and do it now.”

Alice whimpered. “I-I'm trying…I am…It's so late…I haven't slept in days!"

Darius glared at her. "You know what to do, Alice. Do it, do it now!"

“I've been doing it for the past week now, but it's not coming close to putting them to sleep!” she cried. “This isn't fair! What you're doing is child abuse!”

Darius pushed a button on the device and shocked her. "Do it, and you can rest. Do it!"

Alice fell and ended up with several, cuts, bruises, and scrapes. She cried out in pain, and laid there sobbing. She then struggled to get up, faced the crazed people, and she concentrated again, her hands glowing blue.

This time, however, she managed to send out a wave of blue energy and hit every single person, knocking them all out.

“Excellent work, Alice.”

*****

Darius watched as Flora helped Alice into the house so that she could recover and rest, and he went to his study to work on his book, recording everything that occurred during the incident. And as he did this, he was also planning for the next phase of his children’s training in the weeks and months to come.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night,Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: 8 DAYS LEFT PART ONE

*****

Five’s POV:

I shared with Vanya what I knew, now it wasn’t everything, but I hoped that what I did tell her was enough for her to understand what I’d seen in the future.

“I survived on scraps,” I explained. “Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find.” I chuckled grimly. “You know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it's total bulls*t.” I shuddered at that particular memory and my stomach twisted a little as well, and I sipped the coffee that she’d made.

Vanya was definitely listening and being understanding, but for some reason, her expression wasn’t as emotionally as it used to be, and I had to wonder what was behind that.

“I can’t even imagine,” she admitted, pulling me back to what I’d been talking about.

I nodded. “You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die.” And I had to do a lot. “So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it.”

Vanya looked confused. “‘We’?”

‘Oops!’ I quickly finished the coffee and changed tactics. “You got anything stronger?”

Vanya nodded and got both herself and I some Scotch, and I joined her in the kitchen, where I accepted the glass.

“You think I’m crazy,” I guessed, sipping the Scotch.

“No,” Vanya stammered. “It's just…it's a lot to take in.”

‘Understandable,’ I thought. ‘It canbe a lot to take in.’ “Exactly what don't you understand?”

“Why didn't you just time travel back?”

I scoffed. “Gee, wish I'd thought of that.” I sighed when she gave me a hurt look. “Time travel is a crapshoot,” I explained. “I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?”

“Five,” she said and I looked at her as I poured myself another drink. “I really am trying to understand. I mean, physically you’re thirteen again, but you’re clearly older given how long you were gone. Just…how?”

I did have to admit that Vanya was trying to make sense of what I was telling her. “It’s complicated…but I think I got the equations wrong when I came back, hence me looking like this.” I put the glass in the sink. “I should go.”

Vanya shook her head and blocked me when I tried to go to the door. “No. Five… Five, wait. I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again,” she insisted. “That's all. And you know what, it's getting late, and…I have to be at the auditions early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too.”

She got a couple of blankets out and set up the couch as a bed. “Here. We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise. Night.”

“Night.” I waited as she went into her bedroom, shutting the door, and I could hear the faint rattling of pills. ‘Still taking those pills,’ I thought, waiting until I was certain she was asleep once the light in the room was out. ‘I’ve wondered if those pills really do Vanya any good or not.’ I knew she’d been taking them since childhood in order to help with her emotional control, and yet I had to wonder if they were even helpful at all.

I went to the door and left, quietly shutting it behind me.

I had stuff to do, and limited time to do it.

*****

Delta’s POV:

I was in my art studio and I was busy with my painting, having already completed three of the nine pieces that I would be delivering to the art gallery the day after tomorrow. This way, they would have plenty of time to dry and I would be able to sign them, and I knew that Jesse would be back in time to help me deliver them.

I hummed as I painted a landscape of a forest during the fall season, listening to a song on my iPod, and I did some delicate painting with a small paintbrush on the leaves of a tree, so that way they would stand out.

I then moved to painting the leaves that were scattered on the grass, getting in the small details, and I was pleased with how it was turning out. This type of painting wasn’t easy, and it’d taken me time and practice to get it right.

Once I was done, I cleaned the brush and stretched, the muscles in my back protecting from the hunched position that I’d been in, and I got up to get myself a snack from the kitchenette, pleased that I got it done.

‘Four down,’ I thought, choosing a small bag of roasted red pepper peanuts to eat, ‘five to go.’ As I snacked, my thoughts drifted to what Roi had told us all earlier.

‘The way he talked,’ I thought,‘he made it sound like Mystic, Andrea, Cyrille, and I were powerful…not sure how since my ice powers haven’t developed as much as dad has promised, and Vanya having powers? Now that I would like to believe to be true, and I do hope that she does have powers…someday.’

Finishing my snack, I turned and went back to setting aside the completed painting and set up to start the next painting, this time of a panda in a bamboo forest, and I was looking forward to this one.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWO: 8 DAYS LEFT PART TWO

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I yawned as I shut the folder that held the completed paperwork for the case I’d just closed, and I was soready to go home and get some much-needed sleep.

I knew that the others were probably being grumpy about the curfew imposed by dad, but it didn’t affect myself or Jesse because of our jobs, and what Roi told us…well, I was having a hard time believing him, especially with his claim that Mystic, Andrea, Cyrille, and Delta are really powerful, or that even Vanya Hargreeves has powers.

‘They aren’t that powerful,’ I thought, putting the folder in the out box on my desk and I stood up, shrugging into my jacket, ‘and they ain’t ever going to be more powerful than Nikita or myself. And that’s an honest fact.’

Yawning again, I headed for the door – only to be stopped by my partner, Detective Eudora Patch, and I could tell by her expression that I wasn’t going to be seeing my bed anytime soon. “Aw, come on. What happened?”

“Shooting at Griddy’s Doughnuts,” said Eudora. “Big mess. Come on, Hawkins.”

I sighed and followed her out to the squad cars parking lot. This was going to be a long night.

*****

Meanwhile, a taxi pulled up near a small motel that was a tab rundown, and two people got out: one was a tall male with curly brown hair and beard, grey eyes, and he wore a black business suit with a white shirt, black tie, and black shoes, and he carried in one hand a black briefcase. The second person was a shorter female with brown skin, brown eyes, longish black hair, and she wore the same suit, only with black heels.

They entered the motel and approached the front desk, where the manager was seated by a sign “Back in ten minutes”, and he didn’t even look up from his bowl of cereal.

“Reservation for Hazel and Cha-Cha,” said the woman after about a minute.

The manager sighed, set aside his food, got up, and went to the counter. He shifted through some papers until he found the right one, and handed her two set of keys. “Here you go. Room 225.”

Cha-Cha took the keys, raising her eyebrows that only one room was given. “What about the other room?” she inquired, accustomed to having connecting rooms for herself and Hazel.

The manager double-checked and shook his head. “Uh…Only one room was booked.”

“Dammit,” Hazel grumbled. “I'm sick of this cost-cutting bulls*t.”

Cha-Cha sighed while the manager was raising his eyebrows. “Just tell me there’s two beds.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the manager confirmed. “Real firm. Now, how long do you think you'll be staying with us?”

“Just the one night,” Cha-Cha answered. “I believe there's a package waiting for us.” And the manager picked up a big package that he handed to her, and she grunted as she took it from him.

“Okay. Have a good night.” He then went back to his cereal.

*****

Hazel and Cha-Cha entered the room, and he frowned as he looked around while she put the package on one of the two queen-sized beds.

“Go ahead,” said Cha-Cha, glancing at him. “Say it.”

“What?”

“No point keeping it bottled up,” she pointed out, having heard him complain about some of the other rooms that they’d been staying in of late for their missions, “or it'll just give you heartburn, and I gotta listen to you complain about that, too.”

Hazel sighed, knowing that she was right. “Smells like cat piss.” And he proceeded to vent, which she let him do in order to get it out of the way of their job. “First they cut our per diem, and then our dental, and…now we don't even get our own rooms. Where does it end?”

“When we retire…or die.” Cha-Cha took out her pocketknife and went to work on unwrapping the package. “Whatever comes first. But at least we're not stuck in some cubicle.”

Hazel knew that she was right, and yet, he was annoyed with the budget cuts. “Damn wrist is killing me,” he muttered, rotating his right wrist, which he’d injured during a previous mission a while back, and it’d been giving him issues ever since, and he went to the vent near his bed, crouching down with the briefcase. “Couldn't have made this into a backpack or something?”

Cha-Cha watched him as she got the paper off the packet, which was a big square box. “What are you doing?”

“It's not like we're gonna use it while we're doing the job, anyway,” he pointed out, using his own pocketknife to undo the screws and removed them so that he could take the vent cover off.

“It's against protocol,” she objected. “We gotta have it with us at all times.”

Hazel sighed. “A rule written by a bureaucrat who never had to carry one.” He scoffed. “They can shove their protocol up their asses. Let them try lugging around the damn thing.” He shoved the briefcase inside the vent, put the cover back, and replaced three of the four screws, not realizing that he’d dropped one on the floor.

Cha-Cha rolled her eyes and removed the lid from the box, finding inside a photo of their target, their guns and ammo, a tracking device, and the masks they were supposed to wear when they went out to do the job. “Never been after one of our own before,” she remarked, looking at the photo of Five when he was still an old man. “They say what happened to the first guys?”

“Liquidated,” Hazel answered, his voice shaking slightly as he stood back up.

“Dummy local hires,” she muttered, tossing a mask to Hazel, who caught it, and she took a device out of the box. “You get what you pay for. Okay, now, where's our guy?”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THREE: THE CRIME SCENE

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I was at Griddy’s Doughnuts, and the place had definitely been shot up: there were bullet casings everywhere, nearly every surface had bullet holes in them, there was blood splattered on the floor and on the tables, one of the victims had a knife sticking out of his eye socket, and there was a guy lying on the floor with a broken neck.

“Damn,” I muttered, crouching next to the man with the broken neck, noting from the blood splatter that he’d been stabbed first, shot, and then gotten his neck broken to ensure that he was dead. “This is a mess.”

Behind me, Patch was talking with Detective Chuck Beaman, about the crime scene.

“This is a once in a blue moon type of situation, I'd say,” Patch remarked.

Beaman sighed and nodded. “I'm inclined to agree.”

“Same gun on every vic, all in fours. All the casings are .223s. Know what I think? I think these idiots all shot each other.”

Beaman chuckled softly.

“And stabbed,” Patch continued. “One in the throat, one in the eye, and this guy got his neck snapped. All quick and efficient kills. These guys were definitely professionals. Dumb, but professionals.”

“That’s not what I see,” I said, straightening up and they both looked at me questioningly. “This is a professional hit gone south. If these guys really killed each other, then why bother with the knife, or even snapping this guy’s neck? No, I bet whoever they were hired to take out, somehow got the drop on them, and is responsible for all of this.”

Patch shrugged. “Either way, this is a mess and we’ve got to solve it.” She turned to Beaman. “Any witnesses?”

Beaman sighed and nodded. “Yes, one.” He pointed over to where Agnes was seated at one of the few undamaged tables with a cup of coffee, and she was looking shaken. “It happened during her shift.”

‘Damn shame,’ I thought, ‘this place has some good doughnuts, not as good as Ro’s, but still they’re good.’

“Well, that’s lousy luck,” said Patch, and both she and I went to talk with the shaken woman.

“Ma’am,” I said as we sat across from her, “I’m Detective Hawkins, and this is my partner, Detective Patch.”

The woman smiled a little at us, still looking shaken. “Hi, Agnes. Agnes Rofa.” She then became uncertain. “Oh, I don't know, did you want a last name?”

“Yes, it’s fine, Miss Rofa,” I said politely and she was no longer uneasy.

“Did you see what happened here?” Patch asked, getting us back on track.

Agnes sighed and shook her head. “No, not exactly.”

“Let’s start at the top,” I suggested.

Agnes nodded. “Well, it was…it was a slow night,” she began, her voice becoming steady. “It was quiet. My last two customers were this…older guy and…and his kid. The guy had a dough…No, that's not right. The guy had an éclair, and the kid had… had coffee. I went… I went into the back room…um, to just get some more change. But then I heard his truck start up. They drove away. I heard shots.”

She shuddered at the memory and I patted her hand. “Take your time, it’s fine.”

Agnes nodded and pulled herself together. “And by the time I got back in here…everyone was…” she sniffled. “…was, you know…”

“Was there anyone else in the shop?” I asked, taking notes and Patch was also taking notes that we would be able to compare later.

Agnes shook her head. “No, I… I don't think so,” she admitted. “I'm sorry, not to be rude, 'cause you both seem super sweet, but…” She sighed. “…do I have to go through all this again?”

“Again?” Patch repeated, exchanging a bewildered look with me.

Agnes nodded. “Well, I already told the other detective everything.”

“What other detective?” I asked and when I heard the description, I sighed. “Patch, stay with her. I’ll be right back.” And I headed out of the diner, knowing exactly who Agnes had just described.

*****

Diego exited through the back of the diner to avoid the cops, having been hiding until he was certain that the close was clear. He’d picked up the call for the shooting on his police scanner, having helped Ben taken Klaus to his AA meeting, and he’d head straight here for a look around and questioned the only witness.

The cops had arrived sooner then he thought they would, hence why he’d hidden himself, and now he was banking on getting back to his car and using his iPad to access the security cameras…well, that was his plan.

“Yo, Hargreeves,” said a familiar voice and he spun around to face DeStorm, who was looking ticked.

“S*t. Hang on, let me-” Diego began, but DeStorm punched him in the stomach, stunning and winding him long enough for the detective to pin him to the ground and handcuff him from behind. “Dammit, Hawkins! I’m on your side!”

“Yeah right,” DeStorm scoffed, pulling him to his feet and marched him out to the front of the diner, where Patch was waiting, and she was looking pissed. “Yeah, it’s your ex-boyfriend.”

Patch grabbed him and took him to the squad car that was waiting to take him back to the station. “You don't talk to my witnesses, understand?”

“Let me catch you up to speed, Eudora,” Diego requested.

“Don’t call me that,” Patch hissed.

“Right, Detective Patch,” Diego amended. “What, are we gonna keep things professional?”

DeStorm rolled his eyes and began patting him down, taking from him the police radio, the fake police badge, and his vest containing the knives. “You’ll get the knives back in the morning, Hargreeves.”

“Oh, come on man!” Diego protested and Patch shoved him into the back of the squad car, slamming the door shut.

Patch then turned to her partner. “We can question him about what he learned down at the station.”

DeStorm nodded. “Good idea, ‘cause if I’m right, he’ll know something important.”

Beaman jogged up just then with his iPad out. “Store across the street had a security camera, got something.”

They watched the grainy footage of the three men entered the diner, one of them pulled down the shades on the front windows, and then the chaos began with what looked like a small figure zipping around as the gunshots rang out. The small figure exited the diner, stopped to talk with a girl with blonde hair pulled back, and a mask covering her nose and mouth, and then the figure left, dropping something in the gutter before disappearing and the girl ran off.

“Looks like we have another witness,” Patch remarked and noted that DeStorm was looking grim. “What’s up with you?”

“I think I know who the girl with the mask is,” said DeStorm, not looking thrilled at the future conversation with a certain sister. “Let me talk with her, and you can deal with Diego.”

“That girl’s your sister isn’t she?” Patch asked after a moment of staring at him. “You sure you should talk to her? I mean, I can.”

DeStorm shook his head. “No, better be me, I know how to talk to her.”

“All right.”

Across the street, a crowd was watching what was going on, and among them were Hazel, who was licking an ice cream cone, and Cha-Cha, who was pocketing both the implant, and they were watching the police work.

They’d followed the signal from the device and found it a short distance from the diner, which they couldn’t enter until the police were gone.

For now, they didn’t know where Five was, but they weregoing to find him, that was for certain.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FOUR: MORNING STUFF

*****

Gabbie’s POV:

I woke up in my bed and stretched, keenly aware of the man lying next to me in only his boxers, and I smiled to myself. Now, nothing kinky had happen between us, I chose not to go that far…at least, not in the house with my family around.

But in a hotel room when I was out filming scenes for a movie, that was a whole different story altogether.

Anyway, I’d snuck out of the house with Roi, for there was an important party that we needed to attend for the actor’s guild, and I wasn’t about to miss out if it meant landing the part of an important movie deal.

The party was a hit, I got several offers that I would go over with my agent later today to see which one would be the best fit, I did see Roi sneak off to see if he could find out anything that could help prevent the end of the world in what would now be seven days, and I happened to cross paths with a former co-star, who I figured out was cheating on his wife.

Well, let’s just say that I decided to teach him a lesson and, after getting some information out of him about his wife, including contact information, I used my powers to seduce him, and I snuck him into the house under everyone’s noses.

Now, like I said, we didn’t do anything kinky, but I did get him to pose with me, and I did take a few questionable photos that I fully intended to email to his wife, so that she could know what a jerk she was married to. And the fact that his wife was pregnant, and he was cheating on her?

Yeah, she so deserved better.

Pulling on my robe, I quietly went to my laptop, and sat down, inserting the card from my digital camera into the slot. I then went to work on uploading the photos, did a few editing tricks with photoshop that Justine taught me, and I attached to an email that I then sent to his wife.

I then went back to my bed and shook his shoulder to wake him up. “Morning, time to get up and go, Mack,” I said with a push of my power, and he woke up with a dreamy smile on his face – which disappeared after I withdrew my power, and he realized where he was.

“Oh God,” he moaned, quickly getting up and out of the bed so fast, that he got tangled in the sheets and face planted on the floor. “Gabbie…why?!”

“I did nothing,” I said innocently, heading for my bathroom. “See you sometime never, Mack.” And I went inside, locking the door behind me while I listened to him mutter curses and struggled to find his clothes.

‘I hope he knows a good divorce lawyer,’ I thought, getting ready for a nice, long luscious bath as I didn’t have anywhere to go until the afternoon for a filming session. ‘Because he’s gonna need one once his wife sees those photos.’

Did I feel guilty? Maybe a little, but did he deserve it? Oh yes he did.

*****

Mystic’s POV:

I yawned as I exited my bedroom, pausing when a man, struggling to get his shoe on, ran past me from the direction of Gabbie’s bedroom, and I sighed, realizing what my sister had been up to last night. “Again, Gabbie? Really?”

Sighing and shaking my head, I went to the stairs to head downstairs, not surprised when Lennox intercepted the man, giving him a chance to put his shoe on, and then escorted him out the front doors before he was spotted by dad.

I hadn’t gotten that much sleep, due to how late I was out last night, and seeing Five killing those men, and I was hoping that I would be able to stay awake since auditions for the play started today, which I needed to attend in order to help decide who would get which part while the conductor would be auditioning some additional violin players since three were out due to pregnancy, sickness, and leaving for a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I went down the stairs, really needing some food and coffee – when I nearly ran into DeStorm, who’d literally came out of the shadows, and he pulled me into an empty room. “DeStorm, what the heck?!”

“Quiet,” he hissed, making sure that no one had heard and then faced me. “Were you near Griddy’s Doughnuts last night, Mystic?”

“Wait, what?” I blinked, wrong-footed.

DeStorm sighed. “Mystic, listen to me,” he said, a tad more slowly, but I could tell that he was in a hurry. “Last night, there was a shooting at Griddy’s Doughnuts, and a security camera from across the street shows that you were outside the building last night during the incident. Now, please, I just need to know if you saw and/or heard anything that can help me solve this case.”

I sighed and nodded. “Ok, yes, I was outside the diner last night, and I did see what happened…” I told him about the incident, and how Five had been responsible for killing the three men, who, I suspected, had been sent there to kill him. “At least, that’s how it looked, seeing how I was outside the building at the time, and only heard the firing of the guns and none of the talking.”

DeStorm, surprisingly, didn’t scoff at what I was telling him, instead he was taking notes, and I was guessing from the expression on his face, that I clearly wasn’t far off on my suspicions of why those three men had gone after Five. “Makes sense with what I saw at the crime scene.”

“Except for why they were sent after Five,” I remarked.

“Well, that’s my job to figure out,” said DeStorm, a familiar snide expression etching itself across his face, “and now I need to get backto that job.” And he left the room.

“You’re welcome,” I called out after him, annoyed. “What a jerk.” I left the room and headed for the kitchen for some breakfast…purely to keep mom happy.

*****

Vanya’s POV:

My alarm woke me up the next morning and, after I turned it off, I got up, stretched, and went out to check on Five.

“Hey, Five-” I began and stopped when I saw that he was gone, and that he hadn’t even slept on the couch. “Oh, s*t.” I went to the phone and called the house, relieved when it was Pogo who answered. “Hey, Pogo, have you see Five this morning?”

`“No, I’m afraid that I haven’t, Miss Vanya,”` Pogo replied while there was a small crashing noise in the background, followed by Reginald shouting angrily. `“If I do see him, shall I let him know that you called?”`

“No, that’s fine, Pogo,” I assured him, wincing when I heard dad shouting Klaus’ name, which meant that he was in trouble…again. “I’ll check in later. Bye.”

`“Goodbye, Miss Vanya.”`

I hung up the phone, had a quick breakfast, got myself ready, and headed out the door since I didn’t want to be late.

*****

A bit later at the broadway theater, Delta and her team were busy painting the scenery while props were being assembled by the props team, the costume team was on standby to start taking measurements for the costumes, and in a different stage area, the violin auditions were due to start soon.

I waved to Mystic as I hurried to the other stage to watch, wishing that I was being given another chance to move up a seat in the violin section, but that wasn’t going to happen again until next month.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night,Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FIVE: AUDITIONS PART ONE

*****

Mystic’s POV:

I stifled a yawn and took another sip of my coffee, waving to Vanya when she waved to me, and then I straightened up in my seat when I was joined by Aaron, who had a bag from the Good Vibes café, and I could tell that he’s already been snacking on some of Ro’s baked goods since he had traces of chocolate around his mouth.

“Let me guess, breakfast pancake brownie?” I asked with a grin and he nodded, chuckling as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Hard to pass up your sister’s breakfast pancake brownies,” Aaron admitted. “Even my wife loves them.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, Ro’s cooking is amazing.”

Aaron finished wiping his mouth and pulled out a folder of audition applications to go through. “All right, let’s get the auditions going. Ready?”

“Ready.”

*****

After two hours, Aaron and I had managed to casts the roles of the male lead and several support roles, it was time to see who would get the female lead, and I knew from experience that Aaron could be picky about the female lead.

So I was prepared to sit through a number of possible females read lines, do a few dance moves, and even sing a few lines of a song in order to show what they could do for the part.

*****

During the first hour of the female lead auditions, I knew that this was going to take forever, especially after the first three women, one of whom had to physically escorted from the building because she couldn’t take a hint that she didn’t get the part, and she was using so muchprofanity, I was surprised that we all hadn’t burst into flames.

While Aaron was making sure that she wouldn’t come back to cause trouble, I used the time to draw big red Xs through the three photos of the rejected women, and wrote down a few ideas for future plays and/or stories that could use a woman like that as a villain.

“All right,” Aaron said, pulling me from my writings when he came back and plopped down next to me in his seat. “Now that the drama queen is gone, up next is…” he flipped open the next folder and read the name. “Andrea Russett, please come onto the stage, you’re up.”

I closed my notebook and settled back to see what this lady, who shared the name of one of my sisters, could do – and my heart started pounding for some odd reason when I saw Andrea Russett for the first time.

Her long hair was dark brown, but I could see that she’d dyed parts of it purple not too long ago, her eyes were hazel-colored, and while her outfit simply consisted of a red t-shirt covered by a blue jacket with blue jeans and white trainers, it looked really good on her.

“Ok, Ms. Russett,” said Aaron, looking up at her while I was reminding myself to breath, “what are you going to sing for us today?”

“I’m going to sing one of my favorite songs,” Andrea R. replied, not looking the slightest bit nervous, which I found impressive. “It’s If You Wanted a Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask, by Mayday Parade.”

Aaron nodded. “All right, begin when you feel ready.”

Andrea R. nodded to the guy in charge of the sound board, and he started the music. She waited a few seconds, and then she started singing.

“I'm throwing away pictures
That I never should have taken in the first place
And it's cold in my apartment
As I'm changing all the colors
From the brightest reds to grays

Well, it's 3 o'clock on Monday morning
I'm just hoping you're not seeing his face
I've been getting calls in these hotel rooms
Long enough to know that it was him
That took my place

And I hope this makes you happy now
That the flame we had is burning out
And I hope you like your pictures facing down
As even broken hearts may have their doubts

And I'm burning all the letters hoping
That I might forget her and a bad taste
That she left when she was leaving me
A life of barely breathing as she walked out of this place.”

I was entranced, staring at her as she sang, and it took me a few seconds to return to reality when Aaron signaled the music to stop. I blinked and looked at him, wondering what he was going to say about Andrea’s singing, and I was silently hopeful that he would give her the part.

I don’t know what it was, but to me, she sang like an angel, and my heart was racing big time.

“That was an interesting song selection, Ms. Russett,” said Aaron, making a few notes in her folder, and then he smiled directly at her. “And I’m pleased to say that you have the female lead for The Siren of Salem.”

I was thrilled to hear this and, I had to wait for Aaron to thank Andrea R. and provide her with information of when rehearsals would start, I jumped out of my seat, heading over to her as soon as she was alone.

“Uh…hi,” I stammered through my mask and my heart raced even faster when she turned and smiled at me. “I’m – I’m – Mystic Hawkins. I wrote- I, uh, I wrote t-”

“Cool, you wrote The Siren of Salem,” said Andrea R., her smile growing bigger while my face went very red. “Great to meet you, Mystic. Tell me, were you inspired by anything to write this awesome play? Like say, a movie called Hocus Pocus?”

I vaguely recall seeing the movie in a movie theater, one of the few times mom was able to take us, and how I was drawn to the character Sarah Sanderson with her singing ability. I nodded. “Yeah…it’s been a long time since I saw the movie, but yeah, it was inspired by Hocus Pocus and the character Sarah Sanderson.”

“That’s f*king cool,” said Andrea R. “So…do you have any plans today? I mean, besides work.”

I stammered, not expecting to be asked something like that. “Well, there’s the rest of the auditions for today that I need to be here for. Maybe sometime after…six?”

Andrea R. grinned. “Cool. Where should we meet then?”

“Well, do you know the café Good Vibes?” I asked and when she nodded. “We can meet there. It’s run by two of my siblings, but the coffee and baked goods there are amazing.”

“I know!”

I made plans with Andrea R. to meet her outside around 6 pm and then I went back to oversee the rest of the auditions with Aaron, feeling excited.

Was this going to be my first date? Was I gaining a girlfriend?

I really hoped that I was, as that would be cool.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIX: AUDITIONS PART TWO

*****

Vanya’s POV:

I sat with the other orchestra members as the conductor oversaw the auditions for new violin players, and I side-glanced at Helen Cho, who has been first chair for five years. I’d been trying to move up from fifth chair, but I haven’t had any luck, and the one time that I asked Helen for advice, she’d given me the brush off.

‘Hopefully I will get to be first violin chair,’ I thought and I returned my attention to the auditions since normally it would just be the conductor and a few others, but we all were asked to be there in order to start rehearsing as soon as the new violin players had been chosen.

I knew that this was going to be a long day.

*****

Delta’s POV:

I sat on the top of the scaffolding and I was painting some small details on the clouds that were part of the background. Yeah, I know that it wouldn’t be seen, but I always felt that it was the tiny things that would help make the background be perfect, and I wanted the various background be perfect for the play.

I was also listening to music on my iPod as I worked, it wasn’t loud, just enough so that I could focus on my work and still assist my team whenever they needed help. I was also aware of the auditions going on below me on the stage, and so I heard Andrea Russett sing.

And I have to say, she’s good, and I think Mystic might be crushing on her, but I’m not entirely sure. And if I am right, then I’m going to be happy for my sister, for she needs that kind of happiness in her life, and who knows, it might get the others off her back if they see her happy.

*****

Vanya’s POV:

Ok, I will admit that I did doze off during the auditions a time or two, given how late I’d been up while talking with Five. I straightened up in my seat and tried to focus on the auditions, which were starting to wind down since there was just one last seat to fill.

“Leonard Peabody, you’re up.”

I watched as a young man, looked to be about my age, stepped onto the stage, and he looked nervous. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and it was clear to me that this was his first audition just based on how he was clutching his violin.

“And what will you be playing for us today, Mr. Peabody?” the conductor asked with a slightly bored tone.

“I will be playing a part of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in C major,” Leonard answered and, after tuning his violin a little, began playing, starting out a bit hesitantly, but warmed up as he played, and ended with very little mistakes.

‘He did a good job,’ I thought, feeling impressed while the conductor made a few notes before speaking to Leonard.

“Congrats, Mr. Peabody,” the conductor announced. You are in, and you’ll start rehearsing with the orchestra tomorrow morning, 9 am sharp.”

Leonard nodded and left the stage, looking relieved and happy that he’d made it. And he didn’t leave right away, instead he lingered to watch as we all headed into the orchestra pit to start rehearsing the music for the production, and when I happened to glance his way, he smiled and waved a little, causing me to flush and look away.

‘I don’t even know him,’ I thought, tuning my violin with the rest of the orchestra, ‘so why am I flushing like I do now him and actually like him?’

I pushed all thoughts of Leonard out of my mind, and I focused on the rehearsal instead.

*****

Mystic’s POV:

The rest of the auditions weren’t as exciting, but the remaining slots for the play had been filled, and it was now lunchtime.

I went to the scaffolding and called up to Delta until I finally got her attention, and when she peered over the edge, I snickered when I saw that she’d managed to get some blue paint on the tip of her nose. “Working hard or hardly working?” I teased, tapping my own nose and she flushed. “Come on down, sis, it’s lunchtime.”

“Coming.”

I waited for Delta to climb down, noting that she’d gotten the paint off her nose, and we went to the break room to eat our lunches, for I’d brought with me the lunch that Grace had made for Delta, knowing how busy she could get with her artwork.

We heard the orchestra rehearsing, so we know that Vanya wouldn’t be joining us this time, and honestly, I was good with that since it meant that I could get Delta caught up on what happened both last night and this morning at the house.

*****

“You saw Five kill those men?” Delta asked, her eyes wide after I shared with her of what I’d witness at the doughnut shop.

“Yeah,” I confirmed, swallowing my food, “and he didn’t look the bitremorseful for what he did. Apparently they were after him or something like that, which is what I’m guessing.

Delta shook her head, amazed. “Well, the cops are going to have a heck of a time figuring that one out.”

“No kidding.” And I shared with her what was going at the house this morning with Gabbie bringing home a guy and DeStorm questioning me about what I’d seen at the doughnut shop. “…and of course he went on to be his usual jerky self after I shared with him what I knew.”

Delta rolled her eyes. “That’s DeStorm for ya, and I don’t expect that fact about him to ever change.”

I nodded and sighed, now picking at my food. “I just wish I could do more with my powers then I actually can.”

“Yeah,” Delta agreed and then she changed topics on me. “So, what did you and Andrea Russett talk about after her audition was over?” she asked with a sly smile, and I stammered.

“You – what – huh?”

Delta started laughing and when I tried to scowl, I started cracking up, and it was a good five minutes before we both calmed down, and I spent the rest of break telling her about Andrea Russett and our plans for meeting later for coffee at Good Vibes.

Delta was thrilled to hear about this, did tease me a little, but in a fun way, and I couldn’t get rid of the smile on my face at the thought of seeing Andrea R. later today.

I guess things are now looking up for me.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER SEVEN: RESEARCH AND PLOTS PART ONE

*****

Roi’s POV:

I fought back a yawn as I tried to focus on the computer screen in front of me, researching for anything that could help in keeping the world from being destroyed in the next seven days, and while I wished that I could use the computer system at home for my research, I couldn’t risk it since dad was most likely doing the same thing and would try to stop me.

Which was why I was at the library instead, and this was my second trip back here since I’d snuck during the night, while Gabbie was at a party, to start the research that I was doing more of at that very moment.

And I figured that I would see if I could find anything on the people, or whatever they were, that I saw taking Mystic, Delta, Cyrille, Andrea, and Vanya away. And so I worked on doing research on the man with the tentacles that had me thinking of him as a Davy Jones reject, the owl people, and the woman in the fancy hat with those people in suits.

I started with the man with the tentacles, typing into various search engines, and came up with a large number of hits, along with photos. And just when I thought that I was going to have to figure out how to narrow this down, one photo in particular caught my attention, and it was of a tall being with demonic red eyes and a face full of tentacles.

I felt a chill go down on my spine as I clicked on it, following a link, and discovered that it was the image of Cthulhu, a fictional creature created by H.P. Lovecraft.

‘This is what grabs Mystic in the future,’ I thought, reading up on how this being was one of the Great Old Ones, and the more I read about this being, also known as the Cursed God, the more I was getting afraid. ‘This Cursed God is going to grab my sister unless I can somehow keep that from happening.’

I printed up the information before moving onto looking up information for the people in the owl masks, which did remind me of those bank robbers that we all stopped on our first mission. In fact…taking out a special flash drive that Justine made for each of us, I inserted it into the slot on the computer, and began tying in a series of commands.

It wasn’t long before I accessed the police database by way of a backdoor, and I looked up the file for the bank robbers from October 19^th, 1999.

“Ok, let’s see what happened to those would be robbers that we all captured for the police to take away,” I muttered, glad that the police department made sure to upload all the case files into computer systems, and I clicked on the first file.

The file opened and I read the first few lines on the report, and my forehead furrowed in confusion. “What the heck?” I muttered and I kept reading, my confusion mounting, and I then looked through the rest of the files on the bank robbers, finding the same thing in each report…practically word for word.

“‘Armed suspects taken down by The Hawk Academy, acted like they didn’t know what was going on after the owl masks were removed from their faces, and that they apparently have no memory of trying to rob the bank or take anyone hostage’,” I read to myself, floored. “How can they not remember anything that happened that day?”

I definitely remembered stopping these guys, and so I resumed reading the files, trying to piece together the reasoning behind their lack of memory of the attempted bank robbery.

*****

In a different realm, a group of figures in dark green robes and white owl masks were seated around a dark wooden table with a glowing orb floating above it, and the orb was showing them what was occurring on the planet Earth.

One of the figures waved a hand and the scene changed to that of Delta, Andrea, and Cyrille.

“After so long, the time to retrieve the ice princess, the shadow princess, and the plant princess is approaching.”

“But what of the Dark One? The one who is sneaking one of their siblings? What if the one gets what it wants and brings down the barrier first?”

“It will matter not, for we will have what we want, and those who exiled us in the first place, they will finally pay.”

The others nodded, and The Ancient Council continue to make preparations.

*****

Diego’s POV:

I sat in the cell that I’d ended up spending the night in after getting caught and arrested by DeStorm Hawkins of all people, and when I used my one phone call to call the house to let the others know where I was, I’d gotten an earful from dad.

I wasn’t surprised that Reginald was furious with me, or that he let me spend the night in jail in order to teach me a lesson, and so I used the time to mull over what I found out at the doughnut shop.

‘It’s not a botched robbery, that’s for sure,’ I thought, and then focused on the present when I heard a door open, and DeStorm strolled in with that smug expression on his face. “Hawkins.”

“Hargreeves.” DeStorm unlocked the door and gestured at me. “Let’s go, your time’s up.”

I snorted, but I did exit the cell and followed DeStorm out into the bull pin that was the main part of the police building that all the cops walked through or had desks, and I wasn’t surprised when he escorted me to Detective Patch’s desk.

Eudora wasn’t happy to see me, that was apparent based on the look she was giving me as I sat down in the chair by her desk.

“Here’s your knives,” she said, shoving the bag that held my knives over to me. “Now, get this through your thick head, Diego. You can’t talk to our witnesses, you’re not a cop, and you can’t mess with the crime scenes, either.”

I could tell that she was doing her level best not to yell at me, which I was a bit grateful for, but I also knew that I could help if given a proper chance, and I had information to share with her…and DeStorm.

“Look, the waitress,” I said quickly, “she mentioned that Ishmael's Tow Truck guy. Maybe they saw something.”

“We’re already looking into it,” Eudora stated to me and DeStorm was nodding in agreement. “You’re not police, Diego, and you never will be.”

I tried to convince Patch and DeStorm that they needed me, but neither of them would listen, and so I took up the bag that held my knives, and left.

*****

Elsewhere, a different group was meeting with plans of their own, and the leader was male, but had tentacles on his face and his eyes were red and demonic.

“What progress have you made with gaining access to Earth?” he asked his shadowy minions that were gathered before him and his throne.

“We managed to find a crack inside a building where the one you wanted briefly lost control of her storytelling power,” one of the minions reported, “and we’re working on widening it so that you can project a solid projection of your chosen human form that can interact with the humans and her whenever you wish.”

“Excellent,” their leader said, a pleased rumble in his voice. “Let me know when it is possible for me to send in my projection. And what of the business that I shall be using as a front to get close to my intended bride?”

“It is nearly ready for you, sire,” said a different minion. “And when it is ready, it’ll be called Twilight Entertainment.”

He smiled, pleased. “Perfect.”

Yes, his plan for accessing Earth and getting his bride was well underway.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER EIGHT: RESEARCH AND PLOTS PART TWO

*****

Reginald’s POV:

I sipped my tea and looked over the book that I’d been writing in for years…well, one of the many books that I’d been writing in as this was just the latest one. The other books I kept in a secured place that only I had access, and when this book was filled, it would be added to the collection.

March 26 ^th , 2019.

Yesterday, Number Five returned from wherever it was in time that he’d ended up in, despite my many warning that he wasn’t ready to time travel, and while I wasn’t here to witness his return, the many cameras and sensors I have set up, both inside and outside, around the house recorded the event as it took place.

Because of this, I was able to determine when it was that he returned from, and because of this, I am aware that Darius Hawkins sent his children to spy on the return of my son. Yes, they probably thought it was a threat to the city, and it could’ve been if Five had messed up more then he actually did with his calculations.

I don’t know what Darius will do with that information, but I know that’s all the information that he currently has, and he doesn’t know what I know about how the world will end in seven days if it’s not prevented.

I have much research to do, and many more questions to ask Five once he does return to the house. Including this organization that he worked for before fleeing from them on November 22 ^nd , 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and what he did for them exactly. He was annoying vague about this Commission that he used to work it, and I’m determined to get those answers.

I finished writing the entry and closed the book, and that was when I became aware of what sounded like someone trying to pick the lock on something in the nearby room. I put my book inside an ornate box with pearl inlay, locking it, and I went to check on who was getting into trouble.

*****

I entered my bedroom and I sighed when I found Klaus trying to pick the lock to one of the cabinets, muttering under his breath about needing to “block out” the voices, and I knew that he meant the voices of the dead that only he can see and hear if he actually used his powers instead of suppressing them like he has been doing for a long time.

“Number Four what are you doing in here?” I demanded, making him jump, and I ended up lecturing him for the next half hour until Grace and Ben came to take him to his AA meeting.

*****

Five’s POV:

It took me a while, but one taxi ride later, I arrived outside ofMeritech Prosthetics, and as I stood outside the building, I clutched the prosthetic eye that I’d found clutched in Luther’s hand when I found all of my siblings, saved for Vanya, dead in the remains of the Umbrella Academy.

I’m still not sure why I couldn’t find Vanya that day, but I’d hoped that meant she was alive, and yet, I failed to find any trace of her in the city during those long years.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I entered the building to see if I could talk with someone about finding out who would be getting this particular false eye, for I was certain that the owner of the eye would be the one responsible for bringing about the end of the world, and I was determined to keep that from happening.

*****

Taking the elevator, I arrived at the main lobby for the business and I approached the front desk, where a dark-skinned woman was working at her computer, and, after a few minutes, she looked up and noticed me.

“Uh, can I help you?” she asked with the obvious question running through her mind of why there was a 13-year-old boy in the office, and had me wishing that I hadn’t screwed up on the calculations.

“Yes, I need to know who this belongs to,” I requested, showing her the false eye.

However, before the lady could react, a man in a white doctor coat walked up, and his name tag read Lance Biggs.

“Where did you get that?” he inquired, eying the eyeball.

“What do you care?” I snapped before changing tactics when I saw the lady reach for the phone on her desk. “I…I found it…at a playground, actually,” I amended, thinking quickly. “Uh, must have just…” I clicked my tongue “…popped out. I wanna return it to its rightful owner.”

The lady smiled. “Oh…what a thoughtful young man.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, smiling at her. “Look up the name for me, will ya?”

“Uh, I'm sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential,” Lance said with a firm tone. “That means I can't tell you-”

“Yeah, I know what it means,” I interrupted, frowning at him.

Lance blinked and recovered. “But I'll tell you what I can do,” he continued, regaining his train of thought. “I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner. I'm sure he or she will be very grateful, so if I can just…” And he reached for the eyeball that I was still holding.

I quickly pocketed the eyeball. “Yeah, you're not touching this eye.”

“Now, you listen here, young man-” Lance began and then grunted when I grabbed him and pinned him to the front of the desk.

“No!” I snapped angrily, glaring at his alarmed expression as I lost my temper. “You listen to me, a*hole. I've come a long way for this, through some sh*t your pea brain couldn't even comprehend, so just give me the information I need, and I'll be on my merry way. And if you call me "young man" one more time, I'm gonna put your head through that damn wall.”

The lady’s eyes were wide. “Oh, dear.”

Lance looked at her pleadingly. “Call security,” he said softly.

The lady nodded. “Yeah.” And she started grabbing the phone.

I realized that I’d screwed up, so I let him go, and I quickly left before security could show up and nab me.

I was going to need some other way to get the information about who owned this false eyeball, and, possibly, some help.

*****

In a different location, a woman in a black dress was seated at a fancy desk, sipping red wine and reading a book when there was a knock at the doors to the room, and she looked up briefly. “Enter.” And went back to her reading as one of the doors opened, and a nervous-looking balding man with glasses entered with a file.

“Uh, Cha-Cha and Hazel have made it to the right time zone, and they’re working on locating him,” the nervous man reported, putting the file on the desk, opened to the right page in the report.

“Good,” said the woman, sipping her wine without looking at the report. “Let me know when they’ve finished the mission.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER NINE: INVESTIGATION

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I yawned as I returned to the bullpen, having made a coffee run to Good Vibes, and I dropped a sack of baked goods that Ro had literally shoved into my arms onto Eudora’s desk, along with her coffee, black with one sugar packet.

“DeStorm, I swear that your sister is trying to kill the world with sweetness,” Eudora joked and I chuckled as I sat down. “Clearly she’s an evil mastermind that must be stopped.”

“Ro’s a cinnamon roll,” I replied with a grin. “She doesn’t have an evil bone in her body.” And I was about to take a sip of my own coffee, when I paused to watch what was going on with the screen of my computer for a few seconds before sipping my coffee and I got out my phone. “And while I normally wouldn’t admit to a Hargreeves being right, your ex-boyfriend is right.”

“I know, I know,” Eudora muttered, “and I’m looking up to see where the tow truck driver works so that we can talk to him about that night at the doughnut shop. Did your sister have any additional information about that night?” she asked, changing topics in a way that practically screamed that she didn’t want to talk about Diego.

I nodded and handed her my notes while I sent a text to someone.

The Iron Fist: Portal, is there any particular reason why you’re remotely accessing files on my computer at the police station?

Portal Jumper: Uh…what makes you think that I’m accessing files on your computer?

The Iron Fist: I’m at my work computer right now, and I can see the cursor movingwhile someoneis opening files.

I saw the cursor stop moving before I got a response. ‘Roi better got a good reason for messing with my work computer.’

Portal Jumper: Sorry…I didn’t check to see which computer I was accessing.

The Iron Fist: Any particular reason as to why you’re looking at police files from our first mission?

Portal Jumper: That’s something I rather talk about in person…it has to do with what happened yesterday.

The Iron Fist: You think there’s a connection between that bank robbery and what you saw?

Portal Jumper: Yeah… ‘cause I found something odd in those files.

The Iron Fist: Listen, I’ll access the files and bring them back to the house so you and I can look them over, ok?

Portal Jumper: Ok.

The Iron Fist: Great, now quit hacking my computer.

Portal Jumper: Right, sorry.

I put my phone away and blinked when I saw Eudora watching me. “Uh, something on your mind?”

“Nah, just waiting for you to finish your text conversation with, I’m guessing, one of your siblings,” Eudora replied, snickering when I flushed. “So, your sister did see what happened in the doughnut shop, but she couldn’t hear what was being said before the shooting occurred, and…she saw the boy that the waitress mentioned? I thought he left with his dad.”

“The boy isn’t related to the tow truck driver,” I informed her. “If what my sister says is legit, and it probably is since she isn’t the best liar, then that boy is one of the Hargreeves.”

Eudora blinked. “Wait, one of Diego’s siblings?”

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, and if I’m right, it’s his brother who went missing at the age of thirteen and has only been known as Five this whole time.”

“Wait, if he was thirteen when he went missing,” said Eudora, frowning, “then why does he still look thirteen in the security footage?”

“It’s complicated,” I admitted, “only that Five is back, and those men were clearly after him for some reason.”

Eudora looked like she was about to say something else when Beaman walked up with a report.

“Ballistics came back,” Beaman reported. “Bullets from all our shooters match. And you’re both right, yes they did shoot each other, but the ME confirmed that their deaths were spaced so that they were clearly after someone who did fight back due to the knife and the snapped neck. Uh, we also got IDs
on all the deceased gentlemen. Not so gentle, as it turns out.”

“Criminal records?” I guessed.

Beaman nodded. “All of them,” he confirmed. “Battery, assault, a few dishonorable discharges. They're all hotheads. One and all. And…there’s one other thing. Remember the victim that got stabbed in the carotid artery?”

Eudora and I both nodded. “Yes?”

“Fingerprints on the knife don't match our guys,” Beaman informed us. “But it gets weirder. It did match an unsolved cold case that came back, circa, get this…1938.”

I felt a chill down my spine, suspecting that this had to do with whatever Five had been doing during those years he was missing, but I didn’t let on. “Tell them to run it again,” I ordered and Beaman went to do that.

“Let’s talk in private,” Eudora suggested, nodding to the hallway, and I followed her, shutting the door behind me. “Ok, so what’s the deal? I know that you, your siblings, and most of the Hargreeves, have abilities. But does that include time travel?”

I sighed. “Yesterday, I would say no to the time travel, although one of my brothers has been working on that,” I admitted, “but apparently Five returned from the 1960s to present day, physically becoming a thirteen year old boy again, while emotionally and mentally, he’s in his late fifties at least. And I’m suspecting that whoever sent those men after Five, he clearly got into trouble during the time that he was missing.”

“And that trouble has followed him somehow,” Eudora guessed, and I nodded. “So, this case might be more complex then either you or I first thought.”

I nodded again. “Yup.” And we went back to work.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TEN: CONVERSATIONS

*****

Luther’s POV:

I left the house, largely to get away from the toxic atmosphere that was making me wish that I was still on the moon base, and partly to track down Diego, who was suppose to call home the moment that he was released by the police.

I was also hoping to see if Vanya would be available for lunch today, or schedule a time to have lunch together so I could see how she was doing, and spend time with her. I had read the book that she’d wrote about the family, and while she hadreveal a lot about the family, I hadn’t been as angry at her as Diego had been.

And in many ways, I get it why she wrote that book. We all, myself included, had treated her like crap, especially dad, and now, I really wanted to start mending the family bond with Vanya, I really did.

As I drove through the city, I tried calling Vanya, and got her voicemail. “Hey, Vanya, it’s Luther. I was wondering if you would like to get lunch somewhere when you have a break from rehearsal, and if you can, let me know. Even if you can’t today, still let me know, I’d love to spend time with you since it’s been a long time. Bye.”

I hoped that Vanya would agreed, I really was hoping.

*****

I parked my car in the parking lot by the boxing gym that Diego trained at, or so I’d been told by mom when I asked her over breakfast, and it wasn’t lost on me that it took her a few seconds to respond. This has me worried that her programing was starting to breakdown, but I hoped that I was wrong since I don’t think any of us could cope if she had to be shutdown.

I got out of the car, locking it, and I headed inside, where there were a number of men, even a few women, practicing their boxing. I approached the main boxing rink, where the owner and boxing coach was supervising a practice between two boxers.

“Focus,” he said and the two men grunted and panted as they boxed. “Yeah. Break. Break. Move your feet.”

I watched for about a minute before getting the attention of the coach. “Excuse me.”

The coach turned his attention to me and raised his eyebrows, which I knew meant that he could tell that I was a fighter based on my stance and my physical built.

“You're looking to box?” he asked. “'Cause I may need fighters, too.”

“Oh, no,” I said, although that did sound appealing, “I'm looking for information on one of the guys that uses your gym. Diego Hargreeves?”

The coach huffed. “Well, if you see him, you can tell him I'm this far from firing his ass.” And he held out his fingers apart to indicate just how far he was from firing my brother.

“He works here?” I asked, surprised. I mean, yeah, I knew that Vanya had her own apartment, and Alison had her husband and daughter back in California, but this was a surprise.

The coach nodded. “Eh, he, uh, mops the floor in exchange for the back room.” And he nodded in the direction of the back of the gym.

I nodded. “Ok, thanks.” And I started for the back, stopping when the coach spoke to me.

“Think about the fight game, eh?” he suggested. “You got the build.”

I chuckled. “I’ll think about it.” And while the coach returned his attention to the practice, I headed into the back of the gym to see where Diego has been living and wait for him since I still hadn’t heard back from Vanya yet.

*****

Alison’s POV:

I went to the door to dad’s study and took a breath, mentally preparing myself for what I was going to do. ‘I can do this, I can do this. Claire’s his granddaughter, and she wants to meet him, just like Ray wants to meet the family.’

I knocked on the door before I could chicken out, and I waited. After a few minutes, I heard my father’s muffled voice.

“Yes?”

“Dad, it’s me,” I said, shoving down my nervousness, “it’s Al- it’s Number Three.”

“Enter.”

I pushed the door so that it slid aside, and I stepped into the study, which was still the same, even after all this time, and there was dad, with his monocle on and that book in front of him, opened for some kind of entry.

“What is it, Number Three?” Reginald asked, actually looking up at me from his work.

I sighed and spoke. “Ok, so you know that I’m married and that I have a daughter named Claire, and-”

“And I recall that I didn’t approve of you getting married in the first place,” Reginald interrupted. “At least, not to the first man you married.”

I was wrong-footed by this, but I nodded. “Yes, yes you did voice your disapproval many times. Dad, Ray and Claire both want to meet you and the family, and-”

“And I think that is a wonderful idea,” Reginald interrupted, wrong-footing me again. “It is high time that I got to know my son-in-law and meet my granddaughter.”

I smiled, for I had fully expected to have an argument with dad about my husband and daughter. “Thanks, dad, I’ll let Ray know.”

Reginald nodded and went back to his book, and I knew that meant that he considered the conversation over. So I left, making sure to shut the door behind me, and I was looking forward to calling Ray to let him know.

*****

Ben’s POV:

I was in my room, reading a book until it was time to get Klaus from his AA meeting, and I was hoping to get there before he could sneak off to a bar and fall off the wagon…again.

I’d taken it upon myself to make sure that Klaus did go to the AA meetings, especially after he fell off the wagon last year, and nearly died from drinking too much alcohol. And having almost died when I was sixteen when our last mission went south on us, I can relate since I’d been on strong pain killers for a long time until mom helped me get off of them.

I turned a page in the book to resume reading – when Five suddenly appeared in my room, and I yelped, toppling out of my chair to the floor, the book flying out of my hand. “Ow! Dammit, Five!”

“Nice to see you, too, Ben,” Five said, heading straight to my closest as I struggled to get up, wincing since I conked the back of my head on the floor and was seeing stars. “I need your assistance with something.”

“And just what would that be?” I asked sarcastically, getting up and retrieved my book.

Instead of answering, Five took something out of his pocket and tossed it to me. I caught the item and nearly dropped it when I saw that it was a human eye…a fake human eye, which I realized after I got over my initial shock.

“A fake eye?”

Five nodded as he went through my closest. “Yes, to put it simply. When I jumped into the future, I discovered that there was some kind of disaster that wipes out all of humanity, and I think that false eye belongs to whoever brings about the end of the world in the next seven days.”

I stared at him, confused. “Wait, what? You didn’t say anything about the world coming to an end.”

Five sighed and faced me. “Yes, I didn’t say anything about that before, Ben,” he admitted. “Anyways, when I ended up in the future, everything had been destroyed, the moon shattered, and everyone was dead, everyone. And if I’m going to keep that from happening, then I need to find the owner of that eye.”

I looked at the false eye, noting the writing on the back of it, and something clicked. “You need me to get the information out of Meritech Prosthetics,” I guessed and he nodded. “Five, man, I want to help. But I gotta pick up Klaus from his AA meeting, or else he’s going to run off and get drunk after being sober for close to a month,” I added with a sigh.

Five took my business suit from my closest and shoved it into my hands. “We’ll bring Klaus with us to create drama, but I needto do this before time’s up and the world ends…killing all of us in the process.”

I sighed again. “Fine.” I gave him back the eye and I went to get ready.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: INFORMATION ISSUES PART ONE

*****

Ishmael's Tow Truck Company.

Syd, the tow truck driver that had been at the doughnut shop last night, entered his office, tossing his keys on the desk, and clicked the button on the answering machine to listen to his messages. He’d been called to do a tow that turned out be a stupid prank by some kids, and then had to tow a car to the impound lot because some twit wouldn’t stop parking in a no parking zone.

Basically, his morning had been crazy busy already.

`“Yo, Syd, it's Johnny,”` said a male voice. `“Hey, look, we got a bunch of extra tows down here, down on Empire Avenue. The whole thing is a disaster. Kids arrested. Trucks as far as the eye can see.”`

Syd was focused on the message that he wasn’t aware of anyone approaching from behind until-

THUD!

-he grunted and dropped to the floor, blacking out.

*****

When Syd came to, he found himself in his garage, held just off the floor by chains, his shirt was off, and before him was a black woman and a white man – who was going through his paper bag lunch, taking out the contents that he’d worked hard on packing that very morning. “Who-?”

Cha-Cha snapped her fingers, causing him to shut his mouth, and then she smirked.

“You gotta tell me how you did the London job in '66,” she commented, picking up a pair of jumper cords that were connected to a generator. “Beautiful work. Really.”

Now Syd was really confused. “I swear to Christ, I have no idea what you're talking-” he began, but Cha-Cha clipped the jumper cables to his nipples, turned on the generator, and he gasped in pain for several seconds until she turned it back off.

Syd cried from the pain. “I am just a tow truck driver,” he gasped, wheezing from the pain. “I've never even been to London.”

Hazel unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite from one of the halves. “Tuna? Delicious. You want half?” he asked, offering half to his partner.

“I’m fine, thanks,” said Cha-Cha, returning her attention to the tow truck driver, surprised when her partner walked up and punched him before she could begin the interrogation.

“That's for no mayo,” Hazel scolded the older man and took another bite of the sandwich.

Cha-Cha rolled her eyes and notes that Syd was crying, and she was now perplexed since she knew from the stories told, that Five rarely ever cried. “Does Number Five seem like he'd be a whimperer to you?”

Hazel shook his head. “Not from what I heard.”

Cha-Cha took out a picture that they had of Five, back when he was still an old man, and held it next to Syd’s face. “What do you think?”

Hazel compared the two. “That seems close enough to me,” he remarked.

“Strong resemblance, I'll grant you that,” Cha-Cha agreed, but she wasn’t convinced, for there was something off about the guy, “but… the space between the eyes is different, the chin is not quite the same. There's a dimple.”

Hazel nodded, taking another bite of the sandwich. “A dimple.”

Syd had noidea of what they were talking about or who they thought he was, and he tried to convince them. “I am not the guy that you are look-” and he got cut off, crying out in pain when Cha-Cha turned the generator on for several seconds, and turned it off.

“No talking,” she scolded.

“He was the only guy in the doughnut shop, wasn't he?” Hazel wondered, having hacked into the police database for details about the incident at the doughnut shop.

Cha-Cha nodded and turned back to Syd. “Was there anyone else in the doughnut shop with you last night, Syd?”

Syd shrugged. “I don't know, just the waitress and some kid.”

“Some kid?” Cha-Cha repeated and exchanged a look with Hazel. “Elaborate.”

“I…I don't know,” Syd stammered. “Uh…He was weird.”

Cha-Cha fixed him with a look. “This isn't twenty questions, old man. Weird how?”

“He said something about coming there when he was young,” Syd answered, still stammering.

‘When he was young?’ Cha-Cha turned to Hazel, something occurring to her. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

Hazel shrugged. “Italian for dinner?”

Cha-Cha swatted his arm. “Focus, I'm talking about the kid.”

“What about him?” Hazel asked, not having paid attention.

“Time travel's a b*tch,” Cha-Cha reminded him. “Especially without a briefcase. What if the kid is Number Five?”

Hazel started to catch on. “It's sort of hard to wrap your head around.”

“You see, I told you, I am not the guy-” Syd began.

“What else did you and the kid talk about?” Cha-Cha interrupted him.

Syd shrugged, not easy with his current position. “I… I think that's it.” He then started to panic when she removed the jumper cables from his chest and started attaching them to his ears. “Oh, wait, wait, wait… What are you doing?”

“Jump-starting your memory,” she replied and clicked on the generator, making him cry out in pain, and after about a minute, she turned it off.

“All I remember is he wanted directions to some department store,” Syd gasped, tears and sweat running down his face. “That's it, I swear.”

“Department store?” Cha-Cha repeated. “Elaborate.” And she turned the generator back on, making Syd scream once again.

*****

After picking up Klaus from the AA meeting, having arrived early, and caught him trying to sneak out the back door, Ben drove to Meritech Prosthetics. Along the way, he came up with a plan that would help Five get the information he needed, and Klaus was going to play a big role in his part of the plan.

*****

“Are you sure this will work?” Five questioned Ben as he parked the car in a parking lot that wasn’t too far from Meritech Prosthetics.

“It will, Five,” Ben promised, getting out, straightened his tie, and picked up a briefcase that their dad used until he got a new one. “Just wait for my signal.” And he headed for the building while Five and Klaus followed at a distance so that it wouldn’t look like they were together.

Would Ben’s plan work?

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWELVE: INFORMATION ISSUES PART TWO

*****

Ben’s POV:

Adjusting the glasses perched on my nose, I took the elevator up to the main lobby of Meritech Prosthetics, and I entered the busy place, pausing to look around with a cold neutral expression on my face as I approached the front desk, getting the attention of the receptionist.

“May I help you, sir?” she asked me politely when she looked up from her computer.

“Yes,” I said, taking out a business card and handed it to her, “I’m Johnathan Kent of Kent and Luthor’s Law Firm. I need to speak with a Dr. Lance Biggs about an important matter.”

“Of course, Mr. Kent,” said the receptionist, her eyes widened slightly at the names on the card, and she picked up the phone, calling the very person I needed to speak with.

*****

Klaus’ POV:

I sat on a bench with Five, who was watching the scene playing out on a tablet that was showing us everything that Ben was seeing thanks to a special pair of glasses invented by dad for such missions, and I was wishing that I had a drink.

It’d been a month since I last fell off the wagon and since that time, Ben had been making sure that I go to the AA meetings, and that I avoid bars altogether. So far, he’s managed to keep me on the straight and narrow, and yet I wish he wasn’t so good at it.

For me, the alcohol was the one thing that keep all of those pesky spirits from bothering me during daylight hours, and while they haven’t been bugging me of late, there was one particular Russian old woman that kept hanging around me, mostly just staring out of the nearest window whenever I was indoors.

Right now, she was moodily pacing the sidewalk, muttering something in Russian, and I was doing my level best to ignore her.

“All right, here comes Dr. Biggs,” Five said, pulling me out of my daydream of having a Porn Star martini. “Get ready for your cue, Klaus.”

I sighed and straightened up so I could see the screen better. “Five, you sure that this is the place for answers? I mean…maybe that fake eye came from somewhere else. Like say, a bar?”

“Will you stop thinking about alcohol for the next ten minutes?” Five snapped at me, reminding me of dad. “This is the place that the eye comes from, and need I remind you that, if I fail to stop the owner, the whole world is going to be screwed in seven days time.”

“Fine, fine,” I said, raising my hands a little. “I believe you, Five, I believe you.” Just then Ben and this Dr. Biggs began talking, and so we paid attention to wait for my cue.

*****

Lance felt a bit nervous as he lead ‘Johnathan’ into his office and the younger man sat across from him as he seated himself behind his desk, for he knew about the reputation of Kent and Luthor Law Firm, and that if they wanted to come down hard on you, they would without any hesitation whatsoever.

“So, how can I be of help, Mr. Kent?” Lance asked after a few awkward seconds passed between them. “I’m not being sued am I?”

“No of course not, Dr. Biggs,” ‘Johnathan’ responded with a seemingly reassuring expression while removing a file from his briefcase. “You aren’t being sued, but the firm has been called upon to inquire about possible, under the table sales of your product.”

“Oh really?” Lance asked, arching an eyebrow in question while mentally gulping. “I wasn’t aware that anyone would do something like that. I mean, under the table sales of prosthetics? I can’t imagine that could happen at all.”

‘Johnathan’, however, adjusted his glasses and fixed the doctor with a look. “However, it has been happening, and with one particular item being a rather hot seller, yes, I believe that’s the term being used by young people these days. And that item, for whatever reasons, just happens to be prosthetic eyes.”

“Eyes?” Lance repeated. “You think that someone here is secretly selling false eyes in some under the table manner?”

“Yes, and given that the amount that your company makes in a day, it has been happening with some of them disappearing and they are apparently being sold for quite a bit of money,” ‘Johnathan’ confirmed, showing the doctor the file, “and they are all prosthetic eyes made by your company and be no other company.”

Lance did his level best to remain calm as he and ‘Johnathan’ continued to talk, but deep down he was started to panic, and then his day took a turn for the strange.

“I would like to talk to the person in charge!”

*****

Klaus’ POV:

The second that I exited the elevator, I began ranting and raving like I was drunk or on drugs, and while I was on neither, I sure knew how to act like I was. And boy did I make some of the people around me jump the second I shouted out my first line.

“I said, I would like to speak to the person in charge!” I shouted as I stumbled about with a glass bottle in one hand that, sadly, held soda water in it instead of alcohol, and waved it around like I was completely insane. “I want…” I chugged from the bottle and reached the main desk, making the poor receptionist jump away when I leered at her “to issue…a…complaint!”

“Can I help you, sir?”

I spun around, almost fell over in the process, and squinted, like I could barely see because of how out of it I was, at Dr. Lance Biggs.

“Yes…you can…” I slurred, loping over to him while Ben stood in the doorway of the office. “I…have a…complaint…about your…lack of hotel service!”

I could tell that the doctor was clearly taken aback by this, and I kept up the act while he began insisting that I wasn’t in a hotel while gesturing at the receptionist to alert security.

“Of course this is a f*cking hotel!” I screamed at Lance. “Why else would it be so fancy?!”

“Sir, this isn’t a hotel,” Lance kept telling me over and over while I continued to rant and rave, waving around the bottle so that soda water splashed everywhere.

I hoped that Five was able to get what he needed, ‘cause it was only going to be a matter of time before I got hauled away by security that was more then likely on their way up.

*****

Five’s POV:

I portal into Dr. Biggs’ office the second that he left to deal with Klaus while Ben stood in the doorway to keep anyone from seeing me as I did a search of his desk until I found a passkey, which I took with me as I portal out of there and arrived at the door that lead into the file room.

Once I was there, I used the passkey to get inside, and I went straight to the computer that, thankfully, someone hadn’t logged out of before leaving. I sat down and began typing in the serial number that was on the false eye into the search engine.

Soon there was a list of serial numbers scrolling across the screen as the system checked for the one that I needed, and after about a minute – I was given an alert that the serial number didn’t exist.

I muttered a curse since that meant that this particular eye hadn’t been manufactured just yet, and so I quickly undid the search, exited the room, returned the passkey, and portal back outside to wait for Klaus and Ben.

The eye was a dead end.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: INFORMATION ISSUES PART THREE

*****

In a different location, Portal Jumper watched as Gadget Girl overrode the lock on the evidence warehouse for the NYPD, and they entered the large complex, using the lights on their uniforms to be able to look around.

“Are you sure that The Iron Fist won’t figure out that I had already accessed the files about the bank robbery attempt?” he asked his sister as they reached the first row of shelves that held evidence of various cases that had either been solved, were unsolved, waiting to be solved, or the case had been reopened for some purpose.

“Trust me, Portal Jumper,” said Gadget Girl, “he isn’t going to figure it out, I made sure of it.” She called up a holographic image of the warehouse and a green dot flashed on the holo-screen. “All right, the one we want is halfway down and to our right.”

“Ok.”

They walked along the warehouse, following Gadget Girl’s holo-map, and for several minutes, the only sound to be heard was the sound of their boots on the concrete floor, and also the faint sounds of traffic on the street outside.

“So, why aren’t you telling dad about this?” Gadget Girl asked her brother, breaking the silence. “What you’ve found so far?”

Portal Jumper sighed. “Because he’ll stop me,” he replied. “He’ll try to micro-manage it until it’s too late, and it’s very likely that his solution for Mystic, Delta, Andrea, and Cyrille will be to lock them up for their own good.”

“Good point,” Gadget Girl agreed, “that’s something that dad would do. Ok, so we don’t tell dad, but you and I can’t just do this on our own.”

“Don’t worry, I plan to share what we find here with our siblings,” Portal Jumper promised. “And who knows, maybe this will get certain siblings to get off their high horses for a change.”

Gadget Girl scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Portal Jumper snickered. “Yeah, but one can dream.”

Gadget Girl also snickered and they returned their attention to her holo-map, and it wasn’t long before they reached the correct row. They walked along it, checking the numbering on the tags until they found the right now.

Portal Jumper took the box off the shelf and carried it to a nearby table. “Ok, this one has the owl masks from the robbery.” He opened the box and inside were the owl masks, and, surprisingly, they were still white after all this time. “Is it me, or do they look even creepier?”

“They definitely look creepier,” Gadget Girl agreed, taking one of the masks out of the box and set it on the table, scanning it with one of her many devices. “And so far, this seems to be a normal mask…wait, there’s something in this mask.”

“What is it?” Portal Jumper asked. “What are you picking up, GG?”

“Not sure.” Gadget Girl kept scanning and turned the mask over, and both she and Portal gasped when they saw that there were strange symbols etched around the eyeholes, and they seemed to be glowing an eerie greenish color. “Ok…the creepy factor on this has just gone up to a ten.”

“What is that? Some kind of magic or energy?” Portal Jumper wondered.

Gadget Girl shrugged. “I’ll keep scanning, you get the rest of the evidence from the robbery, and see if there’s anything else odd,” she requested and Portal went to do that while she got out the rest of the masks and scanned them, finding the same strange symbols and greenish energy inside each of them.

‘What is this?’ she wondered. ‘And what does this have to do with what Roi saw in the future that’s going to happen in seven days if we don’t stop it?’ She kept scanning.

*****

Five’s POV:

I waited outside the building, pacing and muttering in frustration at failing in finding out the identity of the owner of the false eye that I’d been carrying around for decades, certain that it would lead me to the person I needed to stop so that the world wouldn’t end in seven days.

‘I have no more leads,’ I thought angrily as Ben and Klaus showed up. ‘This eye was my only lead!’

“Five, were you able to find what you-?” Ben began.

“No,” I snapped, facing my brothers. “I didn’t because it turns out that this eye doesn’t even exist yet! Which means, I have no way of finding whoever was suppose to get this eye, and that means I can’t stop that person from destroying everything in the next seven days!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Klaus, raising his hands slightly. “Just because the person who suppose to get that eye hasn’t had the accident to need it just yet, that doesn’t mean that he or she won’t be needing it in the next few days.”

I glared at Klaus, all ready to verbally rip his head off, when Ben took out the papers from the briefcase.

“Unless the eye does exist, and it isn’t in the official records,” he said, handing me the papers. “Turns out that someone in that business is selling false eyes on the down-low, and I lowkey suspect that Dr. Biggs either knows who is doing it, or he’s doing it himself.”

I looked through the papers and looked at Ben. “This is legit?” I asked and he nodded. “Damn, good job, Ben.”

“What about me?” Klaus asked, looking hurt. “I helped with my acting to distract that doctor.”

“You did good, too, Klaus,” I said and he smiled. “If this is right, then I might have a new lead after all. I gotta go.” And I teleported away before either of my brothers could stop me.

I needed time to think, and I knew who I could talk to about this.

*****

In the warehouse, Portal Jumper and Gadget Girl were going through the evidence from the 1999 bank robbery, and she was scanning everything connected to the case, from the masks to the weapons, and so far, the results she was getting, they were making her uneasy.

“I think I have enough to work with,” Gadget Girl said finally, and she looked at Portal Jumper, who looked up from the medical file he’d been reading. “And if these readings are right, then those men we took down that day, they were being controlled.”

“Controlled? How?” he asked, putting down the medical file about the leader of the robbers, and figured that their next stop was going to be the hospital that the men had been taken to after being arrested, for he suspected that the tests results were being held there.

“Based on these readings,” Gadget Girl explained, showing him the results on her wrist computer, “there is some kind of circuitry inside the owl masks that still has residual energy in them that isn’t from our reality, and it influenced the minds of the men while they were wearing the masks. So, when the masks were removed…”

“The connection was broken, and they returned to normal,” Portal Jumper concluded. “That makes sense of why they had no memory of the incident at the bank.”

Gadget Girl nodded. “Yeah.”

“According to the police reports, those men were taking to the hospital and had tests run on them,” he said, thinking. “And I wager that the results of those tests are still on filed at the hospital, along with any samples taken from the men, like blood.”

“You think that there might be additional evidence in the test results and the blood?” she guessed and her brother nodded. “Ok, but if we’re going to go in there, then I think we’ll need some additional help from our siblings…well from certain siblings.”

Portal Jumper nodded. “I was thinking the same thing, and I know who to ask.” And they put back the evidence in their proper boxes and locations, saved for one of the masks that Gadget Girl choose to hang onto for further study, and they teleported away.

*****

“There is a situation on Earth.”

“What kind of situation?”

“Two of the siblings for our targets have found what is inside the masks that our proxies used all those years ago.”

“Then they must be stopped before they can learn of our existence.”

“Yes, sire.”

*****

“I have news, sire.”

“Tell me.”

“The rip has been widened and the fake business is up and running for your use.”

“Excellent. I shall send my human image to Earth at once.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MISSED CALLS, CONVERSATION, AND A DATE?

*****

Diego’s POV:

After getting my car from the impound lot, which did cost me a bit of money, I parked in my spot by the gym, and headed inside to find the place being busy as usual.

Yeah, I still had my room at the house, but I preferred living here away from the rest of the family, giving me space, a place to stay in shape and stay sharp, and be able to do what I wanted without dad getting on my case.

I had checked my phone, finding a number of missed calls from dad, but I ignored them as I had no desire to get lectured, and especially not when there was a case to solve. So, that was why my focus was the shooting at the doughnut shop.

Music was playing over the sound system, the various boxers were training, and I got greeted by some of the regulars who I had done some sparring with in the past. I was also glowered at by the coach since I hadn’t been here to clean up last night, and I knew that he was going to chew me out the first chance he could.

“What's up? Hey, Diego.”

“Yo. What up, Nigel?” I responded.

A woman waved. “What's up, Diego?”

I nodded. “Doing good, huh?"

“Sí,” said one of the men.

*****

After exchanging a few greetings with a few other people, I headed into the back of the gym and I paused when I reached the door to the basement, and saw that the hair that I’d taped into place yesterday on the door, it was broken.

‘Someone’s down there,’ I thought, pushing the door open a bit while drawing one of my knives. Concentrating, I threw the knife into the room below, directing it, and I heard a yelp of pain, recognizing the voice.

Sighing, I stepped inside and saw, sitting on a chair next to my bed, was Luther, who was rubbing the ear that’d gotten nicked by my knife, which was now embedded into the wall, and he was looking indigent at getting nicked by my knife.

“I could smell it was you,” I said, shutting the door behind me, and I went down the stairs.

“What the hell?” Luther demanded. “You could have killed me.”

“If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead.” I went to a cabinet and opened it, removing the knives from my vest and put them into their proper slots, and I retrieved the knife from the wall, adding it to the set. “Why are you here, Luther?”

Luther sighed, dabbing at his ear with a tissue. “Dad wanted me to make sure that you were all right,” he answered. “Well, I wanted to make sure that you got out of jail without too much hassle, and I was worried about you.”

“Well, as you can see,” I said, facing him, “I’m doing fine, and I’m clearly not in jail anymore. Anything else?”

“Well, I was hoping that you and I could have a chance to catch up,” he said, “I mean, it’s been four years and all.”

I sighed and turned to him. “Some other time, I got something going on,” I informed him. “Now… you have a nice day, brother.”

Luther sighed and left, heading up the stairs, and once I heard the door shut, I turned my attention to the desk that held an old army radio and various cases that were both open and closed.

Yeah, I know it’d been four years since I last saw Luther, but I wasn’t in the mood to be around family right now.

‘I don’t know who the kid is, but I’m going to find out,’ I thought, sitting down and I wrote down what I knew about the case, and my theories.

*****

Vanya’s POV:

I was relieved when rehearsal finallyended and I put my violin away, my stomach grumbling since I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, and we had rehearsed right through lunch time. I knew that I wasn’t the only one that was desperate food, and when I looked up to see if anyone wanted to join me for a late lunch early dinner, most of the orchestra members were heading out.

‘I guess I’ll just go get food for myself,’ I thought, closing and latching the violin case, which I picked up, and I took out my phone to take off silent, finding that I had a voicemail from Luther. I checked my voicemail and had to smile a little since he was wanting to have lunch with me sometime, and I thought that was a good idea.

I was about to call my brother when I heard someone clear their throat, and I turned to find the newest violin member, Leonard, was standing behind me. “Uh, hi.”

“Hi, uh, I’m Leonard Peabody,” he said, holding out his hand, and I shook it. “Sorry, this is probably odd since I’m so new here.”

“There’s no need to be sorry,” I assured him. “I’m Vanya Hargreeves.”

“Hargreeves?” Leonard repeated. “As in a member of the Umbrella Academy?”

I nodded, my expression becoming sad. “Yeah…only I didn’t get to be a member. I’m sorry…that’s rather…” I trailed off.

“There’s no need to apologize,” Leonard assured me, “it’s fine, and it was dumb of me to have a fanboy moment.”

I chuckled a little. “No worries, and there’s nothing wrong about being a fanboy about my siblings.”

“Right so, this is probably forward of me,” said Leonard, “but, seeing how none of us got to have lunch because of rehearsal, I was wondering if…if you want to…if you would like to go out for a late lunch with me?”

I was taken aback by the offer, for it was a first, and nodded. “Uh, sure, that’d be nice.”

“Great, I know a place not far from here.”

“Ok.”

*****

Mystic’s POV:

I was eager to head out once the last auditions were done, and so I was caught off guard when Aaron approached me with a man I’d never seen before.

“Mystic! Glad that you’re still here,” said Aaron with a big smile. “I wanted to introduce you to our newest sponsor. This is Jonathan Foster, CEO of Twilight Entertainment. Jonathan, this is Mystic Hawkins, head writer for all of my productions.”

“I’m honored to meet you, Miss Hawkins,” said Jonathan, extending his hand, which I shook, and I took in his appearance.

He looked to be about six foot 1, had black hair that was smoothed back, except for a single strand that was near his forest green eyes, and he was neatly dressed in a dark grey business suit with brass buttons, a white shirt with a dark red tie, and black shiny shoes.

“And you as well, Mr. Foster,” I replied, shaking his hand, noting his strong grip. “I hope you will enjoy the show when it’s time for performances.”

“I’m sure that I will,” Jonathan agreed, letting go of my hand with a smile. “And I hope you won’t mind if I drop by the rehearsals to see things are going from time to time.”

“That would be great,” said Aaron with a grin. “That way you can see for yourself just how seriously we take our work.”

Jonathan chuckled. “I’m sure that you take it very serious in order to have so many successful shows, Aaron.”

I chuckled when Aaron flushed with pleasure. “I hate to say hello and run, but I have someplace to be.”

“Of course, I shall see you again at the next rehearsal.”

“Later, Mystic.”

I waved and hurried out with my stuff, looking forward to what could end up being my very first date with Andrea Russett…I hope.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TENSION AT HOME AND DATES

*****

Delta’s POV:

I yawned as I got out of the taxi, paid the driver, and then went up the path to the front door of the house. I was tired from all the painting I’d done last night, having stopped by my art studio after work to check on the status of the artwork to find that it was drying like it was supposed to, had stopped by Good Vibes for a sugar pick-me-up, and then to home.

Where I was fully expecting to get an earful from dad for running off and not staying at home last night like he’d ordered because of the curfew. And even though I was tired, I wasn’t about to let him bully me, and I was fully prepared for the impending face-off – which didn’t even happen.

I first crossed paths with mom, who informed me that dad had been called away on an emergency trip to one of the branches of the company, and wasn’t going to be back until sometime tomorrow.

I was partly relieved and partly disappointed to hear this, but I decided not to worry about it, and went up to my room to get cleaned up since mom was eager to cook food for anyone who was home.

And to be honest, I was really in need of a decent home-cooked meal since Mystic was off on what could be her very first date, DeStorm was still out on a case, Jesse wasn’t going to be back until morning, and Gabbie was away on an overnight filming for the upcoming movie she was starring in as the female lead.

I headed up the stairs to go to my bedroom, only to cross paths with Nikita. ‘Crap!’

“Well, well, well,” Nikita sneered, blocking my way, “why isn’t it the absent artist. Dad was furious when you didn’t show up for breakfast this morning.”

I so wasn’t in the mood to be heckled by Nikita right now. “I was at my art studio working on artwork, plus I had work,” I pointed out. “You know since you have a job, too.”

Nikita smirked. “Yeah, but I didn’t break curfew to do my job.”

I frowned at her. “Listen, just let me go by, I need to put stuff away before dinner.”

Nikita sneered. “Make me.”

I glared at Nikita and I could feel my powers stirring as my gloved hands started to glow white while Nikita’s hands began glowing pink, and we faced off against each other for a fire vs ice fight.

“Ladies,” said the voice of Maki, making us both jump and we both powered down as he approached. “You both know the rule about using powers inside this house.”

“Sorry, Maki-san,” Nikita and I said at the same time, bowing our heads slightly in respect.

I walked past Nikita and headed to my room.

*****

Once I was in my room, I shut and locked the door before I sank to the floor with my back to the door, taking a shaky breath while staring at my hands. Although they weren’t glowing anymore, I could feel the ice powers inside me, begging to be let loose, and this wasn’t the first time either that I’d felt like this.

Over the years, I’d been feeling my ice powers wanting to burst out of me whenever I’d been angry, stressed, or even scared, and so far, I’ve managed to keep them under control.

I hadn’t told anyone about these power surges, for if I did, I would probably just be mocked by Nikita and DeStorm, and dad would want to test me. And yet, I had to wonder if this meant that my ice powers were growing after all.

‘If they are growing powerful,’ I thought, getting up and put my stuff away, and got myself ready for dinner, ‘then I’ll consider that a great thing.’ And I left my room to have dinner with whoever was currently at the house.

*****

Mystic’s POV:

One taxi ride later, I arrived at Good Vibes and I felt my heart start pounding when I saw Andrea R. waiting for me by the doors, putting out a joint that she’d clearly been smoking. I don’t know why my heart kept racing whenever I saw Andrea R., but it did, and I felt myself starting smiling for real under my mask.

“Hey, Mystic,” said Andrea R. with a smile as she tossed the joint into the nearest trash bin. “Great to see ya, even though it hasn’t been that long.”

I giggled shyly as I reached her. “Yeah, but I’m glad to see you, too, Andrea,” I admitted, feeling my face go red while she grinned, and now I really wanted to hide my face. “Ready to go inside?”

Andrea R. nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been passed here before, but I hadn’t been inside.”

I grinned. “Then you’re gonna love this place then,” I promised, my face going redder when she hooked arms with me, and we headed inside the café.

*****

My grin grew bigger behind my mask when Andrea R.’s eyes widened the moment she felt the clam vibes that Jc was always giving off.

“Sh*t, either that joint is left me feeling higher then normal,” she admitted, “or something about this place has just hit me with a big calming vibe.”

“It’s the café,” I informed her, choosing not to reveal that it was actually Jc, who greeted us when we reached the register, “it just has one of those atmospheres.”

Andrea R. nodded. “I believe it. Hey.”

“Hi, and welcome,” Jc said with his usual calm expression. “New friend, Mystic?”

“Andrea Russett,” said Andrea R., “and I’m hoping to be more then just a friend.”

My face went even redder when she said that, and Jc chuckled. “Oh…um…” I lost the ability to talk and defend myself.

Jc chuckled again. “It’s all good, Mystic, it’s all good. So, what will you girls be having?”

This gave me a chance to recover as we placed our coffee orders and went to find a place to sit near the window, and Ro came bustling out of the kitchen, armed with a plate of fresh baked goods. I snickered when Andrea R.’s jaw dropped, and I explained to her that Ro always seemed to know which baked goods were needed for each person, plus loved using customers as test subjects for any new baked goods that she invented.

“I’ve died and am now in heaven,” Andrea R. declared, having just bitten into one of Ro’s Rocky Mountain cupcakes. “This is too good!”

“I know!” I agreed, having a gluten and dairy free version of the same cupcake. “It’s a wonder that no one has ever gotten fat from her baking.”

Andrea R. agreed and we spent the next few hours chatting and getting to know each other. I learned that while she had heard about the Hawk Academy, she just thought it was something in the comic books, and not a real place, given that she’d moved to New York City just a few months ago, and so she had no idea that my siblings and I were the members of that very Academy.

I decided then and there, that I wasn’t going to reveal that truth to Andrea R. until I felt ready to do so, or she asked.

*****

Vanya’s POV:

“So, you really haven’t had Thai food before?” Leonard asked me as we headed to a Thai place that wasn’t too far from the theater.

I shook my head. “No, dad has always been picky of what we could eat as kids, and it was only after I moved into my own apartment that I finally started trying out other kinds of food.” I then flushed when I realized what I was saying. “Sorry, I’m not used to being asked that kind of stuff.”

Leonard chuckled. “No need to apologize, Vanya, I like hearing about your life.”

My flush turned into a blush. “Oh, ok.”

“Don’t worry, I can help you pick out something that won’t be too spicy so that you can get used to the food,” Leonard offered, and I nodded in agreement as we went inside.

*****

“So, what do you do for a living when you’re not playing your violin, Leonard?” I asked after we ordered our food.

“Uh…I'm a woodworker,” Leonard responded. “I have a shop in, uh, Bricktown. You should come by some time. You know, check it out.”

“Maybe I will,” I agreed with a slight smile, getting my pill bottle out of my coat pocket, and when he raised his eyebrows, I flushed again. “Sorry, it’s just anxiety medication that I’ve been taking since I was a kid, and I didn’t get a chance to take it earlier because of the rehearsal.”

Leonard nodded. “I get it and don’t be embarrassed about taking them in front of me.”

I gave him a grateful look as I took the pills with some of the water from my glass. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

After that, our food came, and we spent the rest of the time, eating and talking about all kinds of thing. I wasn’t certain, but there was just something about Leonard that made it easy to talk with him, just like with Mystic, Delta, and Ro. And whatever that reason was, it was nice to be open and not struggling to express because of how I’d been raised by dad.

*****

Mystic’s POV:

After we finished our drinks and food, we left Good Vibes, and I was surprised when Andrea took my hand once we were outside.

“Oh!”

Andrea grinned. “Sorry, just wanted to do that.”

I blushed. “It’s – it’s fine,” I stammered. “So, is there anything else that you want to do? It’s not that late.”

“There’s a restaurant just down the road,” she said, nodding in the direction of the restaurant, “and I hear that they have a really good prime rib.”

My stomach began growling the second she said “prime rib”, and my face went red in response. “You…had me a prime rib.”

Andrea’s grin got bigger. “Then we should go, but first…” She turned to me, gently removed my mask, and before I could even start to protest, she gently kissed me on the lips.

I froze and felt a thrill go through my body. “Whoa…fireworks.” And I returned the kiss, not having expected this, but I was enjoying it.

“Something else that I wanted to do ever since I first saw you at the theater,” Andrea admitted. “Shall we?”

I grinned and put my mask back on, wrapping my arms around her arm. “We shall.” And I leaned my head on her shoulder as we walked down the street to get to the restaurant, and I was certain that this was the best date ever.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: ATTACKED! PART ONE

*****

A thunderstorm began rolling in over the city as the sun set behind the buildings, people headed home from work, or headed to work for the night shifts at various work places. Basically it looked to be standard stormy night for the city of New York, but little did anyone know, something unexpected was going to happen at two different locations.

*****

In twelve different houses in twelve different neighborhoods, twenty-four different men checked their phones when they got the alert that they had text messages, and when they read the messages, their expressions went blank, their eyes glazed, and they all pocketed their phones before heading to either a hallway closest, the attic, or the closest in their bedrooms.

Each man took out a black leather briefcase, pulled on their coats, and left the houses, some of them ignoring their wives and/or husbands with questions of where they were going.

*****

Over at Bellevue Hospital, which was the oldest hospital in the city that was still in operation even now, and down by the loading dock in the back of the building, the night janitor was having a quick smoke before going back inside to do his shift.

Unknown to him, a slender figure in a white/orange/black uniform with knee-high black boots, fingerless black gloves, and a white/orange/black cat mask covered the figure’s face as they crawled down the side of the building, completely silent, and stop only when they reached the small overhang above the docking bay.

Once the janitor was done with his smoke and got rid of the cigarette, he went to the door, punched in a code, and went inside.

The Calico jumped down and quickly and nimbly grabbed the door handle, preventing the door from shutting, and Portal Jumper appeared with Gadget Girl, who was quick to work the security panel to make it think that the door had shut and locked.

The Bat Queen, Luminosity, The Theorist, and Stratepop all arrived, and the group slipped inside the hospital.

*****

Stratepop lead the way, having looked at the blueprints for the hospital that Gadget Girl had found online, and knew the best route to take to avoid being caught by anyone. And thanks to her, it wasn’t long before they were at the file room, where Gadget Girl made short work of the access panel, and they were able to enter.

“Ok, so what’s the game plan for this?” The Bat Queen asked in a whisper.

“Stratepop and Calico keep watch,” Portal Jumper instructed, “Luminosity provide us with enough light that we can see what we’re doing, but can be put out quickly in case anyone comes by. Gadget Girl access the computer system to monitor the security cameras and look for anything that can help. Theorist, Bat Queen, you can help me with the medical records on those men we stopped at the bank robbery when we were ten years old, and figure out if whoever gave them those owl masks are going after our sisters. Let’s get to work.”

Nodding, Stratepop and Calico took up positions by the door, Luminosity created small balls of light that provided enough light for them to work with, Gadget Girl went to the computer and began hacking it, and Portal Jumper, Theorist, and Bat Queen began checking the physical files.

*****

Meanwhile, Five took a taxi to a particular address and portal his way into a department store that was closed for the night, unpacked a flashlight, and he walked along the racks of clothing until he reached a small platform that had three mannequins on display, all dressed differently.

Five aimed the flashlight at the middle mannequin, which was dressed with a long black wig, a yellow hat, a white blouse with black polkadots, a black skirt, and black high-heels. Seeing her made him sigh wistfully.

“Delores,” he said with a sad smile. “It's good to see you. I've missed you…obviously. Well, I…It's been a rough couple of days.”

Five thought back to his arrival in the future, running through the remains of the city to the wreckage of the house, finding his entire family dead, except for Vanya, prying the false eye out of Luther’s dead hand, and then he found the broken mannequin that he chose to name Delores in order to have someone to talk to, even if she couldn’t talk back.

It was one of the few things that’d kept him sane during those long years.

*****

Outside of the hospital, the cars of the men pulled up, each of them got out and opened their bags, removing the owl masks that they put on, the eye sockets glowing green briefly, guns, and they all headed to the front doors of the building.

One of them hacked into the access panel and this opened the doors so that they could enter, and when the night security guard tried to stop them, he was taken out by a gun with a silencer on it. They then kept heading into the hospital to find their target.

*****

In the file room, Gadget Girl was able to direct her siblings to the right files, Portal Jumper went to the right floor to collect the blood samples, x-rays, and MRI scans of the 1999 men, and brought them back for examination of these items to help figure out what was going on. And going over the evidence, Theorist began figuring out a theory.

“Ok, so based on these results,” Theorist said, “the bank robbers weren’t on drugs at the time, no indicators of illness of any kind, and yet, the MRI scans show that there was some strange activity in their brains. So, in theory, whatever is inside the masks was influencing their brains while they had them on.”

“But wait,” said Portal Jumper, something occurred to him, “according to the witness reports, the men were acting calm and normal when they first arrived, and didn’t change until they put the masks on. And yet, they don’t have any memory of going to the bank before the masks.”

The Theorist considered this. “Good point. So, something else influenced them to go to the bank in the first place, but what could that be?” he wondered.

Gadget Girl nodded. “That’s the missing puzzle piece.” She got an alert on one of her devices and muttered a curse. “We’ve got company heading our way, the security cameras in the hallway just went offline.”

“Gather what you can,” Portal Jumper instructed. “Stratepop, figure out the best way for us to get out of here.” And they went to work on collecting stuff, taking pictures of stuff, and Gadget Girl downloads anything on the system that they could use later.

Once they all had that they needed, putting away what they could, and Stratepop lead the way out of the file room – and that was when the owl-masked men appeared at the other end of the hallway.

Luminosity reacted by using the small light orbs to explode in order to blind their would be attackers, and they ran.

*****

Back at the department store, Cha-Cha and Hazel entered through the back with their guns, they pulled on two masks: Cha-Cha had on a creepy pink dog mask and Hazel had on a creepy brown bear mask. They inflated the masks, raised their guns, and headed toward Five.

Five saw their reflections in a sign and dove for cover as they started opening fire. “No!” And as he took cover, he flinched as the bullets tore through the three mannequins, causing Delores to lose her legs, wig, and one of her arms.

He waited until the attackers had to reload their guns, and he took the time to grab Delores as they started firing again, finding a new place to hide for a moment. “Oh, sh*t! It’s them.” He knew that getting out of here wasn’t going to be easy, but he was going to escape with Delores.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: ATTACKED! PART TWO

*****

At the hospital, the owl-masked men were chasing after the Hawks and firing at them with their guns. The Hawks avoided the bullets with Portal Jumper using his ability to get his siblings to different points where they could use their abilities on the attackers.

The Theorist waited until some of the attackers were close to where he was hiding and he whispered. “I have a theory that you all get trapped in a net.” A net suddenly dropped down and tangled up some of the attackers.

The Bat Queen shifted to bat form and attacked some of the men with her sonic scream, flooring them and knocking them out. The Calico attacked some of the men with her claws, slashing and snarling while avoiding their bullets. Stratepop summoned up a large lollipop and went to work on whacking the men over the head and knocking them out.

Luminosity flew around, blinding the men with her light. Gadget Girl dodged one of the attackers while Portal Jumper was doing random jumps to keep the attackers distracted, and she got out a device that was beeping loudly until she finally took a look. She saw that it was picking up on some strange activity that was coming from the cellphones of the men.

Gadget Girl knocked out one of the men, removed his mask, and took his cellphone, pocketing it to examine it later. ‘I don’t know what’s going on with your phone,’ she thought, fighting off more of the attackers by using her various gadgets, ‘but I’m going to find out once we get out of here.’ She then tasered a man that was trying to sneak up on Theorist, saving him.

*****

Meanwhile at the department store, Five was still huddled behind a display with Delores, who he gave a quick peck on the cheek before tucking her into an empty space that was just barely big enough for her.

“I'll be right back for you,” he promised before dashing out past Cha-Cha and Hazel, teleporting just as they opened fired, and was soon in a different part of the store, finding a black bag that would be big enough to carry Delores.

`“You see that?”`Cha-Cha asked, surprised at what she’d just witnessed.

`“You said he was special,”`Hazel reminded her. `“So now what?”`

Cha-Cha had known that Five was special, but she hadn’t expected to see his powers in action. `“You start over there,”` she instructed, pointing to her left, `“I'll go to the other end. Meet in the middle. Shoot anything that moves.”`

They then moved down different rows, searching for Five, who teleported to a different row, finding pliers on display and he took one, figuring that it would work as a weapon against at least one of the attackers.

*****

Searching along the row, Hazel stopped when he found a board with medical supplies on it, and let out a happy sigh when he saw that they had elastic wrist splints. “Elastic wrist splint." Yes!” And he immediately took one for himself.

He got distracted from his find when Five suddenly appeared behind Cha-Cha and slammed the pliers into the back of her mask, making her groan and staggered as he teleported from spot to spot, running while they both opened fire again…well, Hazel was firing while Cha-Cha was trying to regain her balance.

*****

After several minutes of teleporting around the store, Five returned to where he left Delores, and put her into the bag, zipping it shut and swinging it over his shoulder. He heard Hazel and Cha-Cha coming, and he tried to teleport – and even though there was a whooshing sound, he didn’t teleport away.

“Sh*t!” he cursed, realizing that he’d tired himself out. “Come on!” He kept trying, and then had to run when Cha-Cha and Hazel entered the row, firing at him as he bolted toward the front of the store, still trying to teleport away. ‘Sh*t! If they kill me, then I won’t be able to save my family and the world from destruction!’

He ran until he had to stop to avoid running face-first into the front counter and turned to see that the attackers had him flanked. “Sh*t…”

`“Got him!”`

Cha-Cha and Hazel raised their guns again to fire at Five, when the sounds of police sirens reached their ears as the cars started to pull into the parking lot, having been alerted by the alarm system, and they were briefly blinded by the bright headlights.

When their vision cleared, they saw no trace of Five.

`“The b*rd jumped again,”` said Hazel, annoyed that their target escaped, and he knew that they were going to get an earful from the higher-ups about this.

Cha-Cha sighed. `“Come on, let's go.”` And they left the store.

Had either Hazel or Cha-Cha bothered to check on the other side of the counter, they would’ve found Five sitting on the floor, huddled with the bag containing Delores in his arms, and panting with sweat running down his face.

He’d managed to jump over the counter and hid himself while the attackers had been blinded and distracted, and once he was sure that they were gone, he fled the store as well.

*****

Back at the hospital, the Hawks had managed to take down half of the owl-masked attackers, but they knew that the police were going to show up because of all the racket, and none of them wanted to be there if DeStorm showed up, knowing that he would rat them out to their dad the second he had a chance.

“Gadget Girl! Show me where we are in the hospital!” Stratepop called out, hitting two of the attackers in the back of the head with her lollipop, having replaced it twice already, and when Gadget Girl did so, she took one look at the holographic display and knew which rote that they would need to take in order to get out of there. “Luminosity, blind them and let’s get out of there!”

Luminosity quickly did a light burst that blinded the remaining attackers – and when it cleared, their targets were long gone.

The fight was over.

*****

DeStorm and Patch arrived at the tow truck shop to see if the driver, Lance, was in, and when they saw that the door to the garage was open, they both took out their guns and flashlights before heading inside cautiously.

*****

Entering the garage and shining the flashlights around, they saw that the place had been ransacked, and Patch thought she was going to throw up when they found Lance’s body dangling from the chains, bloody, the jumper cables still attached to his ears, and a bullet hole in his head, plus a bullet hole to the chest, too.

“Damn,” DeStorm muttered while Patch turned away to call it in. “Someone already got to him.” He wasn’t sure of who had done this, but it was clear to him that this had been done by a professional, and that the poor man had been tortured for information.

*****

Meanwhile at the gym, Diego was sharping one of his knives while monitoring the police bands on his CB radio for any activity, especially anything that could relate to the shooting at the doughnut shop last night.

`“We have a 10-14 at Gimbel Brothers department store. Shots fired. Repeat, shots fired. 6045 Vanderbilt. We have another 10-14 at Bellevue Hospital. Shots fired. Repeat, shots fired. 462 1st Avenue.”`

“Two shootings?” Diego muttered, inserting the knife into it’s slot on his vest. “Someone’s having a busy night.”

Grabbing another radio, he headed out.

*****

While all of this was going on, shadowy figures watched Mystic say goodbye to Andrea Russett before taking a cab ride home, watched Vanya say goodbye to Leonard before taking a cab ride home, watched Delta, Cyrille, and Andrea H. in their respective bedrooms, watched those who had been at the hospital return home, and watched Five return to his home, crossing paths with Alison and Luther.

*****

“Five?” Alison asked, concerned when she saw that he was looking battered.

“What the hell happened to you?” Luther asked, also concerned. “Are you okay? Can we help?” And he reached out to touch his brother’s face, only to have it swatted away.

“There's nothing you can do,” Five snapped, glaring at his siblings. “There's nothing any of you can do.” And he stormed off, heading for his bedroom to get some rest and go through the papers that Ben had given him, hoping that they would give him a clue of where to look for the one who was going to destroy the world.

To Be Continued…

*****

I have so many, so many regrets.

So many lies, so many broken ties.

I wish for my old life.

Wish I could fix my strike.

Cause no one truly escapes the night.

Oh, won't you help me escape the night.

Oh baby help me escape the night.

Escape the night.